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THE HEART OF YOUTH 



BY HERMANN HAGEDORN 

The Silver Blade. A one-act play in verse. Out of print 

The Woman of Corinth. A tale in verse. Out of print. 

A Troop of the Guard and Other Poems. Out of print. 

Poems and Ballads. 

J^aces in the Dawn. A novel. 

Makers of Madness. A war play. 

IN PREPARATION : 

The Heart of Youth and Other Poems, 



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1 




THE HEART 
OF YOUTH 



Hermann Hagedorn 



Web) gorfe 

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

1915 

All rights reserved 



T53rir 



Copyright, 1915, 
By HERMANN HAGEDORN. 



NotfaDOU ©tf8B 

J. 8. Gushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 

Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



JUN-5I9I5 
)C1.D 40968 



^ 



" MRS. JOHN " 



Not with swords, not with guns, 

Mother of boys, you arm your sons. 

East and west, south and north, 

With a word in their ears, you send them forth ; 

With a word you gird their souls 

For storms and starry goals. 

And send them over the lands 

With a torch, a torch in their hands. 



NOTE 

" The Heart of Youth " was written for the dedi- 
cation of the Deli Theatre at the Hill School, in 
Pottstown, Pennsylvania, and performed for the 
first time on the evening of June 6, 191 5, with the 
following cast : 

Fra Angelo William A. Hanway 

Rabelin George T. Achelis 

The Duke Louis C. Raegener, Jr. 

Arabis Gerald F. Siereeney 

Althaea Cornelius P. Troivbridge 

Melissa Horace M. Carleton 

A Physician R. Wolcott Hooker 

A Page Sheldon Abbett 

A Man on Crutches Herbert R. Reif 

A Monk Lewis M. Billingslea 

A Boy T/io?nas Denny, Jr. 

The Master in Charge Mr. Johti A. Lester 



CHARACTERS 

Fra Angelo. 
Rabelin, his companion. 
The Duke. 
Arabis, his daughter. 
Alth^a 



her friends. 
Melissa J 

A Physician. 

A Page. 

A Man on Crutches. 

A Monk. 

A Boy. 

Handmaidens. 

Pages. 

Men, Women and Children. 

The Master in Charge 
OF THE Performance. 



SEQUENCE OF SCENES 

Scene I. A forest. 

Scene II. A public square. 

Scene III. A dark street. 

Scene IV. A room in the palace. 



THE 
HEART OF YOUTH 

PROLOGUE 

(The Master in Charge, without hat, coat or 
waistcoat and with the sleeves of his shirt rolled 
up, appears at back of stage. He is evidently 
very hot aiid somewhat exhausted and out of 
temper. Even before he appears he may be heard 
calling impatiently to two boys who are quarrelling 
unseen, but distinctly audible, in the gulley be- 
hind the stage.) 

THE MASTER IN CHARGE 

Come, come now ! Stop your jabber. Stop, stop, 

stop! 
D'ye think those pretty girls and their mammas 
Have come to hsten to you, jabbering 
Behind the wings ? Louis, if you don't quit 
Rough-housing Bill this very minute, I'll — 
What difference if Bill did steal your towel ? 

B I 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 

Steal George's, Gerald's, anybody's. Oh ! 

If you were only now professionals 

I'd have the fun at least of firing you ! 

But amateurs ! Never again, I swear ! 

If there is anything inside this shirt 

Able to profit by experience, 

I wash my hands of amateurs henceforth. 

Come, play the game. Do, for the love of Mike. 

Pretend it's football — anything but Art, 

And take a brace, so we can start the show. 

Come, now, and stop your nonsense. Up this way. 
{To the audience, as he comes forward mopping his 
brow.) 

They're amateurs. And, worse than that, they're 
boys. 

God knows if there'll be any play to watch. 

{A number of Boys appear at the back and hesi- 
tatingly come forward, one by one, as the Master 
IN Charge introduces them.) 

Well, here they come, prepared to make their bow. 

Bow, William. This is William. He's to play 

The saint, the wandering good man. This is 
George. 
{In a whisper.) 

2 



PROLOGUE 

Stand up, for heaven's sake, and be a man. 

He plays the hero-villain, Rabelin. 

You've heard it said. Art is economy. 

Well, we've economized. Like life itself 

We've thrown our good and evil in one pot 

And saved one acting role, creating thus 

A Rabelin too virtuous to hang, 

Too wicked to exalt in other ways, 

Who knows ? — perhaps a man like me — or George. 

Watch him ! His fault is that he tries to heal 

Ere he himself is healed. You know the kind. 

Perhaps you've met him — in the looking-glass. 

Run along, George. Come, Wolcott. This young 

man 
Is our Physician. He looks wise, and talks. 
Herbert's our Cripple, Sheldon is our Page, 
Whose vice is that he sleeps when he should watch, 
A thing some folk are prone to. Here's Cornelius — 
Althaea in the play. Melissa here 
Goes down to glory with the name of Horace. 
Bow, Louis. He's our Duke, straight from Illyria — 
Stern parent of a sixteen-year-old girl. 
Spite of his obviously tender years. 
And here is Gerald, the fair maid herself, 
3 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 

As muscular a Princess, take my word, 

As ever bloomed in gardens. Ah, but wait ! 

We'll have her dying soon, and pale as death ; 

And Rabelin with horror in his eyes, 

Crying, "Relent ! Oh, punish me no more — " 

But that's our story. 

{The Boys have one by one edged over to the right 
and disappeared.) 

Well, you've seen our players, 
And laughed at them a bit ; and that was right. 
For they were only boys in paint and wig, 
Meant to be laughed at, boys like other boys, 
Your boys and mine. But once the play begins 
Forego the laughter. They are ours no more. 
The little while you sit upon this slope 
And watch our story like deep waters flow 
Before your eyes, now calm, now full of storm, 
They are not of this world. A little while 
They put their souls to sleep, and lend to ghosts 
From other worlds the bodies that are theirs. 
They do not act, they are the Saint, the Duke, 
The hero-villain, the fair, fragile maid. 
Real for the moment of our pageantry 
As love and faith and God's hand in the dark — 
4 



PROLOGUE 

Spirits made flesh, not boys, but visions ! Ah ! 
Not boys, but dreams ; not words, but Truth ; not 

man. 
But something mightier, commanding man, 
Alone can fitly dedicate this stage. 
This church — where not in unctuous brocade 
Prinked and emblazoned for the sight of heaven, 
But nakedly in combat, stripped of sham, 
Man talks with God. Let spirits dedicate 
What is the spirit's ! In the name of Truth ! 

(With an emphatic gesture.) 
Now let the curtain rise ! 

{He turns as though to leave the stage, hesitates and 
turns again to the audience.) 
You smile. The curtain? Let the curtain rise? 
Who speaks of curtains in this open dell 
Of cool, green turf and unperturbed waters? 
What curtain is there here to rise or fall ? 
Ah, there are hundreds ! On your eyes they lie — 
The curtains which the busy weaving men. 
We call the years, have woven of your thoughts. 
You said that thoughts were nothing. What a web 
Have now the weavers made of that thin silk 
The spider-brain spun of the love of things 
5 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 

The eye could see, the ear could hear, the hand 
Could finger, squeeze and claw. Ah, what a web 
Of gray, inconsequential-seeming threads ! 
The modish thoughts, the meat-and-money 

thoughts — 
In webs, in webs, in iron curtains, proof 
Against whatever fires of poesy 
Burn in white aspirations from our lines. 
They hang between us and your inner eyes, 
Those better eyes, the pure eyes of the soul. 

Lift up the curtain ! For an hour lift up 
The veil that holds you prisoners in this world 
Of coins and wires and motor-horns, this world 
Of figures and of men who trust in facts. 
This pitiable, hypocritic world 
Wliere men with blinkered eyes and hobbled feet 
Grope down a narrow gorge and call it life. 
Lift up the curtain ! Gaze upon our world. 
Look ! Are there cedars here, a fence beyond, 
A pond, a football field, an ugly mass 
Of huddled roofs behind that poplar-row ? 
Lift up the curtain ! We are in a wood 
Above a city in lUyria. 

6 



PROLOGUE 

The time is twilight. From the hills, the Saint 

Comes with his young disciple ; in the town 

The people wait. Hush ! You can hear the bell 

Calling their hope across the golden eve. 

The dusk is full of peace. You would not dream 

That in the town a Princess perishes 

For love of God, and on these hills, a boy 

Struts gaily toward disaster. Look, what heights? 

What deeps, break on your eyes, what heavens, what 

hells 
In the small orbit of the heart of youth ? 
Lift up the curtain ! Let the play begin. 



SCENE I 

A Forest 

{From the right enter Era Angelo, a tall friar in a 
white cowl. He is accompanied by Rabelin, a 
hoy of seventeen in mediceval garb.) 

FRA ANGELO 

Look, Rabelin. Our journey nears its end. 

There lies the city, slumbering in the dusk. 

So beautiful it is, so calm, so mute. 

So open to God's gaze, you would not guess 

How the bees hum and labor in the hive 

And love and kill and die. So many roofs, 

And under each the struggle and the pain ; 

Youth reaching out, and old age falling back ; 

Youth, hoping ; age, remembering ; each at strife 

With earth and heaven, scarce knowing why he 

strives. 
So many roofs, so many tragedies 



SCENE I 

Of unfulfilled existences. 

The sun 
Plays with gay magic on the fretted dome. 
Look, with what reckless generosity 
He strews his gems. That flash was from a pan 
In some poor drudge's hand ; that running light 
Broke from a sudden ripple on the stream, 
Raised by the first puff of the evening breeze. 
How soft the night falls on those far, dark hills. 
Like an inaudible, blue wave it breaks 
Along the horizon's edge. The valley mists 
Rise up Hke foam. Wait. Soon upon the deep 
The white sails shall appear, the silver sails 
That carry cargoes through sidereal seas 
For the immortal venturers of heaven. 
I shall be glad to see the stars again. 

RABELIN 

You are a strange man when the stars come out. 
I know you while the sun shines. Now and then 
I almost dare to laugh at you as though 
You were a human being Hke myself. 
But when the stars come out, you make me think 
Of mountains and enormous ghosts that tower 
9 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 

To heaven and make me shiver and feel small. 
I don't much like to think of things like that. 

FRA ANGELO 

Are you afraid of me ? 

RABEUN 

Not now. You have 
A dear and human way with you by day, 
A way of being near. I never thought 
'A good man could be such a friend. I'm sure 
You're pleasanter than ordinary saints. 
And yet, at twilight, when the stars come out, 
You frighten me. You seem so far away. 

FRA ANGELO 

The stars are friends of mine. 

RABELIN 

Yes, that's the joke. 
You're human, but you have such queer ideas. 
If you were only now like other men. 
Why, with your reputation as a saint. 
Your holiness, and that odd gift of yours 
Of making sick men well and bad men good — 
Heaven knows what eminence you might attain. 

lO 



SCENE I 

You ought to be the Pope, you might be King ; 
K you would do as much as lift your hand, 
You could be richer than a duke, with gold 
And jewelry and robes of scarlet silk . 

FRA ANGELO 

Gold must have guardians, jewels must have locks, 
Clothes must have roofs to shield them from the 

weather. 
Such things are nothing if they are not all. 
It is a matter of the eyes ; and mine 
See heaven's gold and have no taste for earth's. 

RABELTN 

You are a holy man and I am not. 

There lies the trouble. You don't care a rap 

For gems and gold and scarlet things to wear. 

I do, like every gentleman of taste. 

I think I must have noble blood somewhere, 

For I have feelings for life's higher things 

That as a rule only a noble has, 

Fine linen and such things. You wear a cowl 

And under that a rope and that is all. 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 

You think that's saintly. Well, I think it's just 
A little narrow, I might almost say 
A little cowardly, as though you feared 
That your religion might not stand the strain 
Of silk on Sundays. 

FRA ANGELO 

Something might be said 
About the cowardice that hides in cowls. 
But I prefer a cowl. 

RABELIN 

That's your affair. 
I'll not dispute you have a free man's right 
To your own kind of clothes. But I assert 
You have no right to keep from me the means 
To clothe myself in silks if I so wish. 

FRA ANGELO 

What have I done ? 

RABELIN 

What have you done ? Last night 
You healed a rich man's son, you raised him up 
When he was gone almost, and when they brought 

12 



SCENE I 

Gold to repay you, you rejected it ! 
That was your business, that was your affair 
If you refused the wherewithal to give 
Drink to the orphan, to the widow meat. 
Oh, I'll admit that was your own affair. 
Though I've my notions of its saintliness ! — 
But when they turned and offered me their gold, 
Saying, "Your friend is young, he wears no cowl. 
Some day perhaps he may have need of gold," 
And you refused to let me take their gift. 
That, I declare, was holiness gone mad. 

FRA ANGELO 

A week ago your thoughts were all of heaven. 
Why are they turned so suddenly to earth ? 

RABELIN 

Oh, I am sick of this religious buncome. 
I think and think and don't get anywhere. 
Things you can see, things you can touch and smell , 
Those are the things I seem to want — real things. 
Substantial things that you can weigh. God knows 
If there is any God. I'm sure I don't. 
But there is money and there's power and place — 
13 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 
FRA ANGELO 

If you wish money there are many ways 

That money may be sought. Why do you, then, 

Follow a wandering madman through the hills ? 

RABELESf 

Heaven knows. 

FRA ANGELO 

I never urged you, Rabelin. 
You came to me. I did not ask you whence, 
Nor why you came. 

RABELESr 

I came from dice and taverns. 

FRA ANGELO 

So wicked and so young ! 

RABELIN 

Oh, laugh ! You think 
I'm just a boy. You never would believe 
How bad I was. 

FRA ANGELO 

(Warmly.) 

No. • 

14 



SCENE I 
RABELIN 

Well, then, don't blame me 
When you discover what a devil I am. 
Sometimes I fear I'll be an atheist. 

FRA ANGELO 

But you were such a fire of faith. 

RABELIN 

I know. 
I swallowed everything, hook, bait and sinker. 
Now half of it seems childish, and the rest 
Old women's talk, not meant for grown-up men. 

FRA ANGELO 

Perhaps when you have lived — 

RABELIN 

But I have lived. 
You don't quite realize what I've been through. 
I've passed through terrible temptations. I'm 
Not like those other boys who don't know life. 
I'm different. I've seen things. Oh, I have. 
I wouldn't for the world upset your faith — 
15 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 
FRA ANGELO 

I understand. 

RABELIN 

But my experience 
Has taught me that there isn't much worth while 
Except success. When you've got that, you've 

got it. 
It isn't hke this moonshine talk of God 
You can't clutch anywhere but like an eel 
It slips between your fingers. By and by, 
When I begin to heal — 

ERA ANGELO 

To heal? 

RABELIN 

Why not? 

ERA ANGELO 

I must be getting old, and my mind weak. 
I can't quite seem to follow your swift flights. 
Did you say — heal ? 

RABELIN 

Why, yes. 
i6 



SCENE I 
FRA ANGELO 

But you're a sceptic ! 

RABELIN 

Of course. But then the sick folk won't know that. 
I've watched you heal. It doesn't seem so hard. 
Some day I'll learn the trick, and when I do, 
You bet, I'll not refuse a rich man's gift. 

ERA ANGELO 

So? So? A trick? 

RABELIN 

Well, something like a trick. 

FRA ANGELO 

Is that the reason why you cleave and cling, 

To learn my trick ? A trick, a juggler's trick ! — 

And turn it into goblets and fine linen ? 

RABELIN 

I've made you angry. 

FRA ANGELO 

Yes, you strike at God 
When you strike at His work, 
c 17 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 
RABELIN 

It's your work. 

FRA ANGELO 

No. 

RABELIN- 

Well, I suppose you're through with me for good. 
I'm sorry and — I swear — I meant no harm. 
I've followed you because I cannot help 
But follow. There is something in your eyes. 
I love you, and I follow. That is all. 

ERA ANGELO 

Give me your hand. I love you, Rabelin. 

RABELIN 

You were young once. You know the fires that 

burn 
Inside a fellow. Oh, I can't explain. 
I hate myself, and everything, but you, 
And somehow, you're the one of all the world 
I'm meanest to. I don't know what I want. 
I think I want to do something, to fight, 
Or go to sea, or be a missionary, 
i8 



SCENE I 

Or go about the country, healing folk 
Like you. Sometimes I want to die. 

FRA ANGELO 

Not yet, my brother. God has quite enough 
Boys of your age to manage up in heaven. 
And earth may find some labor for you yet. 

RABELIN 

You're making fun of me again ! 

FRA ANGELO 

Of course. 
My love were less the deep love that it is 
If it were love unmixed with laughter. 

RABELIN 

(Almost tearful.) 

Well, 

I won't be laughed at, teased and patronized. 

It may be sinful, but I'm not a saint, 

And don't pretend to be, and I'm not meek. 

Nor humble. Not a bit of it. I'm proud. 

Some day or other we are bound to break. 

It might as well be now. 

19 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 



FRA ANGELO 



Why, yes. Why, yes. 
Freely you came and you shall freely go. 
Give me your hand, 
(Rabelin, with his hack turned toward him, makes 
no move to accept the proffered hand.) 

You won't? Why, then, good by. 
I'm very sure that we shall meet again. 
(He goes out, centre back.) 

RABELIN 

{Tossing his head defiantly.) 
Oh, for a chance to show what I can do ! 
Anything ! Just to show him. Anything ! 
If only some one'd fall into a river 
While I was near, or there would come a war, 
I'd make him swallow humble pie, I would ! 

(He goes out, whistling desperately.) 



20 



SCENE II 

A Public Square in the Town 

(A choir is heard chanting off stage. Enter the 
Page, left.) 

PAGE 

(Yawning and stretching.) 
"Watch and be ready," said His Nibs the Duke. 
"Run, Theobald, and fetch the holy man. 
He may come soon. He may not come till 

night. 
Watch and be ready." That's all very well. 
I've watched for seven blank and weary hours. 
I don't believe there is a holy man. 
And even if there is, it's ten to one 
He'll somehow circumnavigate this burg. 
All the excitements do. I'm going to sleep. 
Cathedral steps don't make the softest bed. 
But it's a hard stone that'll keep my brain 
Working against my will. That holy man ! 
Pshaw ! probably he'll never come at all, 
Or if he does — well, I'll wake up in time. 
Good night, proud world. 

21 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 

(He settles himself comfortably and drops to sleep. 
Again the choir may he faintly heard. From the 
left, enters a Man on Crutches.) 

THE MAN ON CRUTCHES 

I wonder — will he come ? 

{From the right, a Voice is heard calling.) 

VOICE 

Coming ! 

THE MAN ON CRUTCHES 

Oh, where ? Which way ? 

VOICE 

Coming ! 

THE MAN ON CRUTCHES 

Dear God ! 

(A Boy runs in from the right.) 

BOY 

He's here ! He's in the town ! 

THE MAN ON CRUTCHES 

He's here ? 

BOY 

I saw 
Him close as I see you. I saw him heal ! 

22 



SCENE II 
THE MAN ON CRUTCHES 

Heal! 

BOY 

Yes. A woman. She was blind. He said — 
{The great Bell of the cathedral close by begins to 
ring with eager, rejoicing strokes.) 

THE MAN ON CRUTCHES 

He's here ! 

{The Page moves restlessly, but settles down again 
into still sounder slumber. From the left and 
rear. Men, Women and Children, among them 
the halt, the lame and the blind, run in, crying 
excitedly to each other.) 

VOICES 

The bell ! . He's here ! He's in the town ! 
This way ! Come, this way ! 
You're crowding me ! 
What do I care? 
He's coming this way. 
I can't breathe ! 
Heal me ! 

He's coming ! He's coming ! He's coming ! 
23 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 
THE MAN ON CRUTCHES 

Oh, wonderful ! 

(Voices, gaining in volume, are heard at right, 
then a throng presses in, shouting.) 

NEW VOICES 

He's here ! 

THE OTHERS 

He's here ! He's here ! 

(Fra Angelo enters. The crowd surges about him 
with shouts. The Cathedral Choir is heard 
again more loudly and dominantly than before.) 

voices 
Heal me ! Holy man, heal me ! 

(Rabelin enters right and stands apart from the 
crowd, a little supercilious and bored.) 

ERA angelo 

{Gently) 

Peace, peace, good friends. 

{The crowd parts and Fra Angelo emerges. 
The Man on Crutches, who has kept in the 
background, hobbles up to him.) 
24 



SCENE II 
THE MAN ON CRUTCHES 

(Stretching out his hand.) 
Heal me ! 

ERA ANGELO 

(Gazing tenderly into his eyes.) 
You are healed. 

THE MAN ON CRUTCHES 

(Stares incredulously, stretches his limbs wonder- 
ingly and suddenly lets his crutches fall with a 
cry.) 
Healed ! 

(The cry is taken up hy the others who surge about 
Fra Angelo.) 

era angelo 

Come. Let us rest our hearts in God's good 

house, 
And speak with one another. 

(He goes out left, followed by the hushed and awe- 
struck crowd. Rabelin, startled out of his 
defiant mood by the healing of the cripple, stands 
motionless an instant, pondering.) 
25 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 
RABELIN 

"You — are — healed." 
Um. That seemed easy. 

PAGE 

(At left, waking.) 

Is it morning yet ? 

RABELIN 

Hello. What's here? 

PAGE 

Don't talk to. me like that. 

RABELIN 

Say, who are you ? 

PAGE 

I am the Duke's own page. 
Remember that. 

RABELIN 

Pooh ! What's a duke? I've been 
A saint's companion, and I could be now, 
If I'd been willing to endure his ways. 
But he was — fresh, as teachers sometimes are, 
And, well, I felt I was too old to stand 
That sort of thing even from a holy man. 
26 



SCENE II 

PAGE 
A holy man ? 

RABELIN 

{Offhand.) 

Why, yes. They call him that. 
Of course, when you go travelling with a man 
You do see faults. But then, he's good, he's good. 

PAGE 

Say, it's a holy man I'm out to find. 
When is he coming ? 

RABELIN 

Why, he's come and gone. 

PAGE 

{Jumping to his feet.) 
Gone! 

RABELIN 

You're a foolish virgin. 

PAGE 

Where'd he go ? 

RABELIN 

Oh, you can't see him now. He's healing folk. 
There's thousands clamoring to see him now. 
27 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 

You'll have to wait in line. If things go right 
He may be free to-morrow at this time. 

PAGE 

Oh, help a fellow, won't you ? I'll be fired 
If I come back without him. I sure will. 
I've got to see the holy man. 

RABELIN 

What for? 

PAGE 

Well, some one wants him. 

RABELIN 

Who? 

PAGE 

{Ofhand.) 

Oh, just the Duke. 

RABELIN 

{Impressed.) 
The Duke? 

PAGE 

For his sick daughter. 

RABELIN 

{Fascinated.) 

What's her name? 

28 



SCENE II 
PAGE 

The Princess Arabis. 

RABELIN 

My, what a name ! 
The Princess Arabis — 

PAGE 

She's very sick. 

RABELIN 

She is? 

PAGE 

And awfully pretty. White and pink 
Like a magnolia flower. And fun to talk to. 

RABELIN 

What did you say her name was? 

PAGE 

Arabis. 

RABELIN 

That's a sweet-smelling name. 

PAGE 

She's very ill. 

Oh, please persuade the holy man 

29 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 
RABELIN 

Oh, no, 
He's far too busy, and besides a duke 
To him means no more than a beggar. But — 
There might be others who could possibly — 
What is the ailment? Measles? 

PAGE 

Worse than that. 

RABELiN 

Mumps? 

PAGE 

Oh, far worse. 

RABELIN 

Then chicken pox? 

' PAGE 

No. Worse. 

RABELIN 

(Dejected.) 
Then I'm afraid the saint had better not 
Attempt to tackle it. 

PAGE 

Oh, he must come ! 
^o 



SCENE II 
RABELIN 

What is her ailment ? 

PAGE 

No one seems to know. 
She's drooping, fading, slowly, like a flower 
That's thirsty. 

RABELIN 

(Softly.) 

Arabis ! 

PAGE 

I've heard them say 
It's all because she wants to be a nun, 
And the old Duke won't let her. That's absurd I 
WTio'd droop and pine away to be a nun ? 

RABELIN 

(Pondering.) 
Of course, a thing like that is easier 
To heal than real diseases — mumps or such things. 
It's barely possible the holy man 
Might be persuaded, at a pinch, to come ; 
Since it's not mumps, or something serious, 
But just — 

31 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 
PAGE 

The Duke said he'd pay well ! 

RABELIN 

He did? 

PAGE 

Yes. Heaps and heaps of gold. 

RABELIN 

Oh, wonderful ! 

PAGE 

You bring the holy man and you'll get some. 

RABELIN 

{Carelessly.) 
Oh, that's all right. 

PAGE 

I'll skip. 

RABELIN 

(Dreamily.) 

Sweet Arabis ! 
Why, that's a flower's name. 

PAGE 

You'll make him come ? 
32 



SCENE II 
RABELJN 

(Breathlessly.) 
Yes. 

PAGE 

Good for you. I'll go and tell the Duke. 
(He runs out right.) 

RABELIN 

A Duke ! A Princess ! Princess Arabis ! 

A pining Princess ! Heaps and heaps of gold ! 

It's like a fairy-story. (Pause.) "You — are — 

healed." 
Why, it looks easy. Why not ? Why, perhaps — 
I might — I'm rather bright in other ways — 
Who knows? Perhaps it's Opportunity 
Banging at my front door. It is ! It is ! 
It's the great chance to show what I can do, 
To show the holy man — ! 

(A Monk enters right, hurrying across the stage. 

Rabelin impetuously stops him.) 
Hold on ! 

MONK 

What's this? 

RABELIN 

Take off your cowl ! 



D 



33 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 





My cowl? 




RABELIN 




Quick ! 




MONK 




Please, sir, but — 




RABELIN 


I want it. 






MONK 




So do I. 




RABELIN 




Quick ! Take it off ! 



MONK 

I've only got a hair-shirt underneath ! 

RABELIN 

I don't care. Quick ! 

{He strips the Monk of his cowl and quickly puts it 
on over his clothes. The Monk, in his brown 
hair-shirt, reaching to his knees, hurries out, right, 
calling, " Help I Robbers / ") 
Now, which way to the palace of the Duke ? 
{He looks right and left, then runs out, back.) 
34 



SCENE III 
A Dark Street 
(Enter Rabelin, stealthily, rear centre.) 

RABELIN 

That's it. That must be it. Where is the gate ? 
How black and tall and hard and cold and stern 
The walls rise up. There's not a tree, just 

stones. 
Beneath, above, about — a world of stone. 
It makes me shiver. I'm not used to towns. 
I wonder what the holy man would say 
If he could see me now? It's getting dark. 
How funny shadows act behind one's back ! 
They act alive, but not alive with people. 
I'm not afraid of flesh and blood and bone, 
Robbers and such things, nor of ghosts; but 

these 
Queer shifting shreds that are not ghosts nor men 
Make me all goose-flesh. What was that? Good 

Lord! 
(Fra Angelo enters right.) 
35 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 



FRA ANGELO 



Is that you, Rabelin ? 

(Rabelin cowers, but does not answer.) 

Is that you, brother? 
I missed you and a something in my heart 
Said that you needed me. And so I came. 



RABELIN 



{Softly.) 
I do not need you. 

FRA ANGELO 

Then my heart was wrong. 

RABELIN 

Yes. Very probably. 

FRA ANGELO 

Why do you keep 
Your face so hidden ? Are there tales inscribed 
On the truth-telling tablets of your eyes 
You dare not let me read ? Why do you hide ? 
Are you, a man of seventeen years, afraid? 
36 



SCENE III 
RABELIN 

(Turning sharply.) 
I'm not afraid ! 

FRA ANGELO 



What errand are you on? 

RABELIN 



What's that to you 



? 

FRA ANGELO 

Nothing — or everything. 

RABELIN 



Well, nothing then. 

FRA ANGELO 

There's something in your voice 

RABELIN 

What of it? 

FRA ANGELO 

Rabelin, come back. 

RABELIN 

I won't. 

FRA ANGELO 

(Laying his hands on Rabelin's shoulders.) 
What deviltry is on you ? There's a door 
37 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 

Closed in the shadowy passage of your eyes. 
You've slammed a door wherethrough I used to 

pass. 
You've slammed it in my face. Look up at me. 
A wall ! a wall ! No passage for me now. 
What mischief's brewing on the farther side ? 

RABELIN 

What's that to you? 

FRA ANGELO 

I am your friend. 

RABELIN 

My friend ! 
My teacher's what you are and ever will be. 
Because I came to you and asked to learn, 
You've got a notion it's your heaven-sent job 
Forever to look after me, to keep 
My feet safe in the straight-and-narrow, watch 
My very goings-out and comings-in 
As though I was a girl at boarding school 
And you my old-maid chaperone. 

FRA ANGELO 

Dear boy ! 
Look in my eyes. Am I a friend or not ? 

38 



SCENE III 
RABEHN 

I tell you, I am sick of being taught 

And led about like a tame elephant. 

I know some things and now I'm going to live. 

Perhaps I'm not the muddle-headed boy 

You think I am, perhaps I am a man, 

Perhaps I've got it in me to do things. 

Let go ! I've got my opportunity, 

And opportunity comes only once ! 

Others have fought and won — at seventeen. 

Why shouldn't I ? Let go ! 

(Fra Angelo drops his hands from Rabelin's 
shoulders.) 

Where is the gate ? 
I'm going to the palace of the Duke ! 

{He runs out, left.) 

FRA ANGELO 

The Duke ! What ! Not — to heal ? 

Youth, youth ! Ah, God ! 
Be merciful to the wild heart of youth. 

{Exit.) 



39 



SCENE IV 

A Room in the Duke's Palace 

(Alth^a enters right, tiptoes across stage, and 
stands at extreme left of stage as though listening 
at a door. She gives a sob. Melissa enters, 
also crossing.) 



ALTH.EA 



(Softly.) 
Has the saint come ? 

MELISSA 

Not yet. 

ALTERA 

I scarcely dare 
Go back to her and say he hasn't come. 

aCELISSA 

He's in the town. 

ALTH^A 

I know. I heard the bell. 
I can't see why he doesn't come — The Duke ! 

(The Duke enters right. The Girls curtsey deep.) 
My lord ! 

40 



My lord ! 
{Cheerfully.) 



SCENE IV 

MELISSA 

DUKE 

What news? 

MELISSA 



No news, my lord. 
She sobs and laughs and speaks of foolish things. 

ALTH^A 

Oh, yield, my lord, before it is too late. 
It is no sin to want to be a nun 
And vow oneself to heaven. 

DUKE 

You too are young. 
You do not understand such things. A child 
Has whims hke this that fade out and are gone. 
I am not wholly selfish. I desire 
To shield her from herself, to be her watchman 
Against the intrusive enemies of youth. 

ALTH^A 

It's not a whim, my lord. It is a call. 
I know it is a call. To see her face 
Is to be sure it is a call from God. 
41 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 
DUKE 

Spare me these arguments. Call the physician. 

ALTH^A 

My lord, she's dying ! 

DUKE 

Tush ! Comfort yourself. 
Girls do not die as patly as they faint, 
When lovers or recalcitrant papas 
Demand rebuke. My girl shall have the saint 
She's crying for, to bring the red cheeks back. 
She shall not have her convent. That is final. 
Call the physician. 

ALTHiEA 

(Drawing back.) 

Very good, my lord. 
(Sobbing, she goes out left, followed by Melissa.) 

DUKE 

Absurd, ingenuous, earnest heart of youth ! 
(Enter the Physician, left.) 

PHYSICIAN 

My lord ! 

42 



SCENE IV 
DUKE 

(Lightly.) 

Well how's our young besieger? 

PHYSICIAN 

Sire? 

DUKE 

What spectres is she threatening me with now ? 
What bugaboos to force a stubborn parent ? 

PHYSICIAN 

No bugaboos, my lord. 

DUKE 

You are too serious. 

PHYSICIAN 

It seems the hour demands it. 

DUKE 

Come, come. Laugh. 
You must not trust her earnestness too much. 
It is a children's ailment. 

PHYSICIAN 

Sire, I fear — 
43 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 
DUKE 

Don't be so serious, man. 

PHYSICIAN 

Ah, God in heaven, 
She's dying ! 

DUKE 

What? 

PHYSICIAN 

I can do nothing more. 

DUKE 

What did you say ? 

PHYSICIAN 

She's flickering, like a lamp, 
Burnt out. 

DUKE 

You're a physician, and you say 
This d)dng is no empty threat of hers ? 
She's — 

PHYSICIAN 

She is dying. 

44 



SCENE IV 
DUKE 

Why ! I must be mad. 
This is against all reason ! Men might die 
For faith, conviction, men ! But not young girls 
Of sixteen years. You are absurd ! 

PHYSICIAN 

My lord, 
I would I were. 

DUKE 

I do not imderstand — 
You say — why, it's absurd ! Youth may be strange 
And from its dewy inexperience weave 
Amazing webs of whim ; but even youth 
Would balk at perpetrating such a travesty 
Of reason and of life. You are all wrong ; 
Or else in league with her to break my will. 
Which is it ? 

PHYSICIAN 

Sire, I say what I have seen. 

DUKE 

I do not understand the heart of youth. 
If she had been the praying kind, a prig. 
Worried about salvation, bigoted, 
45 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 

Mawkish, anaemic, anything except 

The hearty, wholesome tomboy that she was, 

Why, I might understand. A year ago, 

One dusk, she saw a beautiful young nun. 

That's all the stimulus there is. That's all. 

But something opens in her, something shuts. 

And suddenly the devil-boy is gone, 

And she is all dreams, and deep-sparkling eyes. 

Dreams, a long quarter-year ; then, overnight, 

A blaze of faith. I said, she is a child ; 

And laughed. She did not laugh. And I laughed 

more 
To see the grief she did not try to hide 
That I should sin against the Holy Ghost 
By ridiculing what to her was holy. 
I said, this fever will be over soon. 
And now you say she's — d3dng ? 

PHYSICIAN 

So it seems. 

DUKE 

I did not know that children of her age 
Could feel so deeply. When they laugh, they laugh 
So like the sunlight, so like running water, 
46 



SCENE IV 

So without any backward look toward pain, 
I did not know that when they wept, their woe 
Could tap the same cold, deep, eternal springs 
That feed our older grief. I did not dream 
Her spirit might be stronger than her flesh 
And frown the body's youthful ardor down. 
I grope in darkness. Youth bewilders me. 
I cannot probe it, plumb it, comprehend 
The meanings of the songs and silences 
That shake its lovely temples into dust. 
Dying, you say? 

PHYSICIAN 

(With a helpless gesture.) 

My lord — 

DUKE 

Bring her in here, 
Where she can see what light the day has left 
For a bewildered world. 

PHYSICIAN 

(Withdraming.) 

I go. 
(He crosses to extreme left.) 
47 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 
DUKE 

Dear heaven! 

What an unmotivated farce is life — 
Unless indeed — Where is the holy man ? 

PHYSICIAN 

(Returning.) 
They're bringing her, my lord. 

DUKE 

Good. You may go. 
(The Physician bows and goes out back.) 
The holy man ! Is he the answer ? Ah! 

(Enter left, Alth^a, Melissa, and Four other 
Girls, attendants on the Princess Arabis, bear- 
ing a cot on which Arabis is lying. They set the 
cot down at left centre, forward, and group them- 
selves about it.) 

arabis 
(Faintly.) 

It must be very late. 

DUKE 

The sun has set. 

arabis 
You promised that the holy man would come. 
48 



SCENE IV 
DUKE 

I sent for him. He was delayed, perhaps, 
And will still come. 

ARABIS 

I fear he will not come. 

DUKE 

I sent a page to meet him. 

ARABIS 

Oh, I fear 
The messenger forgot, or else the word 
He bore from you lacked warmth. If the saint 

knew 
How much I want him he would come, I know. 
There is so much I want to ask of him. 
I think that I could live, if I saw him, 
And he could tell me how to make my way 
Through this most difficult thicket. Why, it 

seemed 
As though all weakness faded like the dark 
At your mere word that he might come. The sun 
Was high then. That was long ago. And now 
The night comes on, and he has not yet come. 
E 49 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 

I'm hot and very tired. 

You see, if Christ 
Called, and I did not come, and up in heaven 
My mother heard him call, and stood by him 
Waiting for me to answer all night long — 

ALTH^A 

She's wandering again. 

ARABIS 

{Dreamily.) 

What did you say? 

ALTHAEA 

Sleep, sleep, my Arabis. 

ARABIS 

I can't. You know 
Mother is weeping, for she hasn't heard 
The sound of all sweet sounds she wants to hear. 
And Christ is saying, "Never mind, don't cry, 
She'll answer soon." But mother's half afraid 
I never will — 

DUKE 

Oh, child, you break my heart ! 

SO 



SCENE IV 
ARABIS 

I try to call and try to call, and can't. 
{The Page enters.) 

PAGE 

My lord ! 



DUKE 

He's here? 








PAGE 








He's in the town, 


my 


lord, 


Not here? 


DUKE 
ALTH.EA 

Not here ? 






{Faintly.) 


ARABIS 

Not here ? 

PAGE 







He's on his way. 
I dare say, any minute he'll be here. 

ARABIS 

What did he say ? — 

ALTHjEA 

He's coming, Arabis ! 
SI 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 
DUKE 

{To Page.) 
Bring him up quickly when he comes. 
{Exit Page.) 

ALTHiEA 

The saint — 
The holy man — he's coming. 

ARABIS 

^ith a long, glad sigh.) 

Oh! 

MELISSA 

Listen ! 

ALTHiEA 

He'll just say, Rise ! And you'll get on your feet. 

MELISSA 

Listen ! It won't be long before you'll hear 
His footsteps now. 

ALTH^A 

Listen ! Was that a step? 

MELISSA 

First on the stair, then in the corridor — 

ALTH.a:A 
Then at the door — 

52 



SCENE IV 
MELISSA 

And then here in the room ! 

ARABIS 

Yes. And he'll cry, Arise ! 

DUKE 

{Aside.) 

Oh, heart of youth ! 

MELISSA 

And you'll be up on your two feet again. 

ARABIS 

And strong, you think ? 

ALTHiEA 

Of course. And with red cheeks. 

MELISSA 

And all the hair you lost will come again 
Just twice as beautiful. It's always so 
In story-books. 

ARABIS 

{Dreamily.) 

I don't care about hair. 
S3 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 

ALTH^A 

Listen ! I heard a knocking at the gate ! 

ARABIS 

I heard it, too ! 

MELISSA 

Listen ! They've drawn the bolt ! 
I heard it grate, 

ALTH^A 

There ! Did you hear the chain ? 

DUKE 

(Crossing swiftly to back.) 
Steps ! 

MELISSA 

On the stair ! 

ALTH^A 

Louder and louder now ! 

ARABIS 

(Faintly.) 
Steps ! 

MELISSA 

Oh, it's he ! 

54 



SCENE IV 
ALTH^A 

The holy man ! 

ARABIS 

Dear mother, 
Help me to do my share. 

DUKE 

{Softly.) 

Good God, have mercy. 

PAGE 

{Reentering.) 
My lord, the holy man — 

DUKE 

Let him come in. 

ARABIS 

At last ! 

MELISSA 

Now in a minute you'll be well. 
(Rabelin, disguised, enters. The Page goes out. 
The Duke, Alth^a and Melissa fall on their 
knees.) 

RABELIN 

( Uncomfortably. ) 
Please — please get up. 

55 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 

DUKE 
(Kissing Rabelin's hand as he rises.) 
Father — 

RABELIN 

(Awed.) 

Are you the Duke? 

DUKE 

I am. 

RABELIN 

You know, you mustn't kiss my hand. 

DUKE 

Forgive. 

RABELIN 

I will. 

ALTH^A 

(Softly to Melissa.) 

A curious holy man. 

DUKE 

Here is my daughter. 

RABELIN 

(Approaching the cot.) 

Oh! 
56 



SCENE IV 

DUKE 

I think my page 
Told you our sorrow. Yet you seem surprised. 

RABELIN 

{Softly.) 
She's very beautiful. 

DUKE 

Without, within. 
Her body is no fairer than her soul. 

ARAB IS 

I wish it were so. 

RABELIN 

{To Duke.) 

Wait outside the door. 

{The Duke retires to the right, Alth^a and Me- 
lissa and Attendants to the left.) 

arabis 
You're very young. I thought all saints were old. 

RABELIN 

I'm — older — than I look. 

ARABIS 

I'm glad. 
57 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 

RABELIN 

But years 

Don't count in matters of this kind, of course. 

It's what we've learned from worry and the knocks 

Of hard experience that counts, not years. 

You'll understand when you have lived. Of course, 

It's easy to be good, before you know 

The fun of being wicked — 

ARABIS 

{Bewildered.) 

You are strange. 

You say so much that I can't understand. 

RABELIN 

You're young. When you have lived — 

ARABIS 

When I have lived, 
It won't much matter, will it, what is said 
On earth ? For I will understand the words 
The angels speak to one another in heaven, 
And need no lesser understanding. 

RABELIN 

Still, 

Experience — 

58 



SCENE IV 

ARABIS 

Oh, I am sick of words. 
My head burns. Why are you so different 
From what I dreamed ? 

RABELTN 

How — different ? 

ABABIS 

{Staring.) 
He's standing on the crystal wall of heaven 
Telling my mother, "Wait. She will speak soon. 
Listen. Above the roaring of the world 
Can you not hear the voice of Arabis?" 
I try to speak and can't. Oh, holy man. 
Help me to speak ! 

RABELIN 

She's very sick. 



ARABIS 

Why can't I speak? 

RABELIN 

{In fear.) 

Suppose — 

59 



Oh, mother ! 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 

ARABIS 

(Conscious again.) 

What did you say ? 

RABELIN 

(Relieved.) 
She's clear again ! 

ARABTS 

If I could see your eyes 
I might gain strength. I feel so limp and weak. 
It's always in the eyes God has his seat. 
Perhaps, if I could look into your eyes — 

RABELIN 

(Turning his head away, softly to himself.) 
What have I done ? 

ARABIS 

You will not let me look. 
(She begins to weep softly.) 

RABELIN 

(Kneeling impetuously at her bedside.) 
Don't cry. Forgive me. Oh, don't cry ! You 

wrench 
The living heart right out of me. Don't cry. 
Look in my eyes. 

60 



SCENE IV 
ARABIS 

I can't see, for these tears. 

RABELIN 

Oh, please don't cry. 

ARABIS 

You are so different 
From what I hoped and longed for. I was sure 
The holy man who healed folk would heal me. 
I did not wish to live until I heard 
That you were near with healing in your eyes. 
I knew how you would guide my strengthened feet. 
And when I heard you on the stair, I said, 
"One minute more and he will come, and stand 
Beside my bed and Hft his hands, and cry, 
Arise! and I will rise, healed." — Such a dream ! 

RABELIN 

(Urgently.) 
Don't be afraid. I — know the way — it's done. 
Of course, you shall be healed. 
(Faintly, as he draws back.) 

Oh, close those eyes ! 
They burn into my conscience ! 
6i 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 



ARABIS 

I believe ! 
By God's dear grace, I know I can be healed. 
Oh, I believe, believe, believe. 

RABELIN 

(Aside.) 

Dear God ! 

I'll serve you ever after ! Give me help ! 

ARABIS 

I know I can be healed. 

RABELIN 

(Faintly, apprehensively.) 

Rise. You are healed ! 

ARABIS 

(With a glad cry.) 
Healed ! 

(She tries to raise herself, struggles and falls back, 
struggles upward again, and again falls back.) 
Give me strength ! Oh, give me faith ! 

RABELIN 

(Prayerfully.) 

God ! God ! 

62 



SCENE IV 



ARABIS 



(With a last supreme effort.) 
Mother ! If you could only hear me, hear — 
(She falls back, unconscious.) 

RABELIN 

(Flinging himself on his knees beside her.) 
What is it ? Are you tired ? Are you asleep ? 
What is it ? Speak ! Oh, answer, answer ! Speak ! 
Oh, do not lie so silent and so white! 
Your cheek is cold. Your hand is cold and 

limp. 
Arabis ! princess ! Princess Arabis ! 
Oh, beautiful sweet flower, Arabis ! 
The last tears that she shed are not yet dry 
Upon her cheek. Oh, wake! Why do you 

sleep 
So soundly? Wake. 
(He shakes her gently.) 

Oh, wake ! I beg. Oh, wake ! 
I see my sin ! You've punished me enough, 
Sweet Arabis. Forgive. Relent. Relent ! 
Oh, punish me no more with those closed eyes, 
63 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 



Those cold, limp hands ! She's fainted. 

(Calling.) 

Some one ! Help ! 

(Enter the Duke, right.) 

DUKE 

What is it? 

RABELIN 

Water ! Quick ! Some one bring water ! 

DUKE 

(Kneeling beside the bed.) 
She's dead ! 

RABELIN 

No, no, not that, not that ! 

(Althaea and Melissa enter left. Alth^a brings 

water.) 

althma 

Here's water ! 

(They bathe Arabis's face.) 

duke 
What have you done ? What evil — 

RABELIN 

No, no, no ! 
Nothing! She lives. She's tired. That's all. 
She sleeps. 

64 



SCENE IV 
ALTHiEA 

I cannot hear her heart beat, 

MELISSA 

Is she dead ? 

RABELIN 

No, no ! She shall be healed. She shall rise up. 

{On his knees in pleading prayer.) 
Dear God ! Forgive. Forgive. Make her rise up. 
I did not mean such wickedness. Ah, God, 
I did not mean it. I'll be good ! I swear. 
Humble and good. Oh, this time, save me, God ! 
I thought, I really thought that I could heal. 
If I deceived, oh, I deceived myself 
As well as her. Oh, heal her, God ! I'll pray 
Until you must relent. Oh, you'll not wreck 
Two Hves for one impulsive moment. I — 
Just did not understand. I was not bad. 
Just vain and proud. 

DUKE 

{At left, motioning the Handmaidens outside.) 

Bear her into her chamber. 
{The Handmaidens enter.) 
F 65 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 
RABELIN 

Not yet. 

{At the bedside.) 

Sweet Arabis, shake off that slumber. 
You are so beautiful, you must be kind. 
Surely behind your beautiful white face 
Are mercy and relenting. Wake, oh, wake ! 
I did not mean to wrong you. Oh, be merciful ! 
Wake ! Wake ! She does not stir — she's — Oh ! 
she's — look ! — 

(Staggering backwards.) 
Fra Angelo ! Fra Angelo ! Fra Angelo ! 
I need you ! 

DUKE 

(Rigid and cold.) 

Bear the princess to her chamber. 

RABELIN 

(Clutching the Duke's arm.) 
Send for Fra Angelo ! Cry through the streets. 
Send for the holy man. 

DUKE 

Why, what are you ? 
66 



SCENE IV 
RABELIN 

{Flinging off his cowl.) 
I am a sham, a fraud, a murderer ! 

DUKE 

(Retreating in horror.) 
Oh, base, base, base ! 

(The Handmaidens surge indignantly toward 
Rabelin.) 

Let no one touch the man. 
There are diseases of the soul in him 
Who cheats in God's name. Go ! I have no sword 
To reach the depths where those diseases root. 
Go ! Let the earth unclose and cover you. 
I will not stain my sword with sulphur. Go ! 
{The Duke goes out, left, followed by Alth^a, 
Melissa and the other Handmaidens, bearing 
Arabis.) 

RABELIN 

{Stumbling after them.) 
Not all, all base. I swear it. Arabis ! 

{He falls down and remains lying in an attitude of 
lifeless despair. Althaea appears left.) 
67 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 

ALTHiEA 

(Calling.) 
Physician ! Come ! Physician ! Oh, where is he ? 

(She crosses to the back and calls.) 
Page ! Page ! 

(The Page enters back.) 

PAGE 

Yes, lady? 

ALTHiEA 

Run. Fetch the physician. 
(The Page disappears again. Altera crosses to 
the left and goes out.) 

RABELIN 

(Flinging himself over on his back.) 
What have I done? (Pause.) Oh, God! What 
have I done ? 
(The Physician enters back and swiftly crosses and 
disappears left.) 
Who's that? He's gone. To her, perhaps. To 

her. 
If only I could wash out of my eyes 
68 



SCENE IV 

The look she gave me. Oh, the heights and deeps 
Of that reproach ! It was as though she cried, 
"I wanted strength and you had none to give me. 
I wanted God, and you had only words." 
The sorrow in her eyes. The pain ! 
(Alth^a reenters, left.) 



ALTH.EA 

(Calling.) 
(Crossing to back.) 

RABELIN 

(Clutching Alth^a's dress.) 

Has she awaked? 

alth^a 
(Startled.) 



Lights ! 

Lights ! 









Who's there? 








RABELIN 


No. 






ALTH^A 


Oh! 






RABELIN 




Poor 


boy 


ALTH^A 



Has she awaked ? 



(Exit.) 

69 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 
RABELIN 

Oh, God ! {Pause.) Dear God ! 

I really thought that I could heal. Forgive. 

I did not know that men must heal themselves 

Before they dare stretch out their hands to heal 

The other sick. I know now. Oh, I know ! 

(Pages appear carrying torches that flare and 

flame eerily in the gathering dusk. They cross 

the stage and go out left.) 

Forgive ! See, I am punished. You have whipped 

My spirit, God, my heart, with a barbed whip. 

I'll not be proud again, or vain, or stubborn. 

I'll serve, I'll learn, I'll labor. You shall know — 

(He rises to his feet with a sudden consciousness of 

new strength and resolution.) 

God, you shall know you need teach Rabehn 

His lesson — only once. 

(He stands upright, victorious. Enter, right, Fra 

Angelo.) 

fra angelo 

You called. I came. 

RABELIN 

{Without turning.) 
I knew that you would come. 
70 



SCENE IV 
FRA ANGELO 

Why, yes, of course. 
A friend comes when he's called. 

RABELIN 

{Deeply stirred.) 

A friend? 

FRA ANGELO 

(Taking Rabelin's two hands in his and looking 
deep into his eyes.) 

A friend. 
(Rabelin sinks slowly down at Fra Angelo's 
feet. Fra Angelo lays his hands gently on the 
boy^s head.) 
If there are any shades in God's deep love 
I do believe His deepest love goes out 
To the tormented, irresponsible, 
Gay, eager, burning, foolish heart of youth. 

(He drops his hands; Rabelin remains motionless. 
Fra Angelo crosses softly to the left and goes out. 
In the distance, the Choir of the Cathedral may 
be heard again chanting. From the left, Pages, 
bearing torches, stu?nble in, startled.) 

n 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 

A PAGE 
Who — who was that ? 

{The Physician enters, confused.) 

PHYSICIAN 

Who was it? 

PAGE 

I don't know. 
{The Duke enters, followed a moment later hy 
Althaea and Melissa and the other Attendants 
all in more or less confusion.) 

DUKE 

Strange ! 

physician 

Do you know him, sire? 



DUKE 

I could not tell. 



The place was dark. 



physician 
I stood beside the bed. 
He came into the room and looked at me — 
72 



SCENE IV 
DUKE 

My tongue was lamed that tried to challenge him. 
His eyes — 

ALTH^A 

His eyes ! 

MELISSA 

His wonderful, deep eyes ! 

PHYSICIAN 

(Awed.) 
Sire, was that — Death ? 

DUKE 

Strange, strange ! But no — not Death ! 

RABELIN 

(With a cry of understanding.) 
The stars are out. That's why he's strange. The 
stars ! 

DUKE 

You ! You here ? 

RABELIN 

Yes — 
73 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 
DUKE 

{To Pages.) 

Seize him. Take him away! 
Take him away before I murder him. 
Take him away — 

ALTHiEA 

Look! 

MELISSA 

Heaven ! 

DUKE 

What's that — white thing? 
{The Pages who have laid hands on Rabelin re- 
treat with confused exclamations. The Duke, 
Physician, Alth^ea, Melissa, Torch-bearers 
and Handmaidens stand huddled in an amazed 
group, in centre stage. Out oj the dusk at left 
appears Arabis, looking very slender ajid white, 
and moves slowly toward Rabelin. He steps 
aside startled. The Others cry out and retreat 
stumblingly before her.) 
74 



SCENE IV 

ARABIS 
Don't run away from me. I'm not a ghost. 

{The Group draws back yet further, in panic.) 
He said, Awake! and I awoke. He said, 
Arise ! and like a new, fresh wind 
Life seemed to fill my sails, and I — came forth. 

DUKE 

God pity me. My child. My poor, dead child ! 

ARABIS 

Don't say such things. I'm really not a ghost. 
Touch me. I am alive ! I'm strong, I'm well ! 

PHYSICIAN 

It is her ghost. 

ALTILEA 

Poor Arabis ! 

ARABIS 

Oh, dear ! 
Has no one faith enough to think that God 
Could raise a sick girl up ? 
75 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 
RABELIN 

(Who has been watching her, spell-bound with won- 
der and growing ecstasy.) 

Yes. Yes. Yes. 
(He goes toward her with slow, hesitating steps and 
fixed eyes.) 
See. / believe. I knew that you would live. 

{Touching his heart.) 
In here I knew. When God sent me my friend, 
I knew that He forgave, and you would live. 

ARABIS 

(Tenderly.) 
You ? Who are you ? 

RABELIN 

I did an evil thing. 

ARABIS 

Oh, I remember now. And yet — and yet — 
You do not look as though your heart were base. 
I scarce remember what you did to me. 
I only know, in some black desert, hung 
Between the stars and earth, you gave me pain. 
76 



SCENE IV 

But that is past, and worse things I'd forgive, 

Because you knew that I was not a ghost. 

To think a boy would know more than all these ! 

RABELIN 

{Kneeling before her.) 
Oh, lady, let me serve you. 

ARABIS 

(With childlike eagerness.) 

Why, indeed. 
I'll tell my father. He must make a place 
For you somewhere, so we can talk together 
Of many things I dream of and half see, 
Things you'll be glad to hear about, I know, 
For you have friendly eyes. 

(She chatters on, absorbed. The Others draw 
nearer as they slowly realize that She is actually 

alive.) 

A thousand things ! 

My head's just full of things to talk about. 

I want to know what you think about life 

And God and convents. Do you know, I think 

That one can serve the Lord in other ways 

Than in a nunnery. 

77 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 

DUKE 

Child, it is you ! 

ALTH^A 

{Touching Arabis timidly.) 
She's real. 

MELISSA 

She's living ! 

ARABIS 

Why, of course, of course! 
But it is strange to be back in the world. 
Where is the holy man ? 

DUKE 

Go. Bring him here. 
{The Physician goes out left.) 

RABELIN 

{To Duke.) 
Forgive me. 

DUKE 

{Giving him his hand.) 

Yes. I do forgive you. 
78 



SCENE IV 
ARABIS 

{Crying sharply.) Oh! 

DUKE 

What is it ? Speak. 

ARABIS 

(Mysteriously.) 

He is not in my room. 
I felt a gentle wind blow through my heart. 
He's gone. 

PHYSICIAN 

{Reentering.) 

He is not there. 

DUKE 

Not in the room? 

ARABIS 

(Softly.) 
There is no door but this ! 

RABELIN 

Not in the room ? 

ALTERA 

Not in the room ? 

MELISSA 

Not in the room? 
79 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 
PHYSICIAN 

He's gone. 

DUKE 

{To Physician.) 
The windows there are barred. There's no way out 
But this, but this, no way but through this room ! 
If you say, he's not there — 



arabis 
{Awe- struck.) 

Who — was — he ? 



DUKE 

Yes. 



Who — was — he ? 



RABELIN 

Why, my friend, of course ! My friend ! 
{Grasping a torch.) 
Come ! Come ! We'll find him ! 

ARABIS 

Take me with you ! 

DUKE 

Lights ! 
(They surge forth with their torches into the night.) 
80 



SCENE IV 
RABELIN 

Come ! (More distantly.) Come ! 

(From afar off, but clearly, like a challenge.) 

Come! 

(Numberless torches appear, following Rabelin up 
the steep incline and out of sight. From a dis- 
tance the cathedral Choir may be heard again, 
singing first softly, then more and more trium- 
phantly, until the swelling music of the hymn 
dominates all other sounds, finally drowning out 
even Rabelin 's distant call.) 

Come ! Come ! Come ! 



Hymn 

Out of pain and black disaster, 
Hear our voices, mighty Master ! 
Fires of hell rise round and sear us, 
Lord in love and pity, hear us ! 
War and torment roar, assailing, 
Sick with sorrow, earth is wailing. 
Trampled, broken, bleeding, dying, 
Lord, for Thee our hearts are crying ! 
G 8i 



THE HEART OF YOUTH 

Lord, in pride we scorned to heed Thee, 
Boasting, "God, we do not need Thee! 
We, to whom all earth is given, 
What have we to ask of Heaven ? 
Soaring, delving, warring, slaying. 
What have we to do with praying?" 
Lord, forgive the mad words spoken. 
Lord, behold ! Our pride is broken. 

Lord, with hearts abrased and bm-ning. 
See, Thy beaten sons returning ! 
Blind with smoke and bent with grieving, 
Hungry, tattered — but believing 1 
See, we gather round about Thee, 
Failures, failures, Lord, without Thee ! 
Take us, Lord. These hands, O take them ! 
Breathe upon our souls and wake them. 

Lord, we fell in our defiance. 
Look ! With Thee we stand as giants ! 
Lord, we perished, burning, rending, 
Lord, with Thee is battle's-ending ! 
Lord, with Thee, the darkness dwindles, 
Lord, with Thee, the daylight kindles. 
82 



HYMN 



Lord, we faint without Thee. Feed us ! 
Lord, we fail without Thee. Lead us ! 

Lead us, Lord ! 

Lead us. Lord ! 



Printed in the United States of America. 



83 



